Meretz

The electoral threshold is distorting Israel's democracy - time to rethink it - opinion

Israel’s electoral threshold was designed to improve governability. Instead, it can distort election results and leave voters without representation.

 A man casts his vote in the Israeli general elections, at a polling station in Jerusalem, on November 1, 2022.
Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats party, with party members following the announcement of the results of The Democrats party primaries ahead of the upcoming elections, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 20, 2026.

Israel Election 2026: What does Yair Golan’s Democrats party stand for?

(L-R): Yair Golan, Gilad Kariv

No. 47: Yair Golan and Gilad Kariv: Reviving Israel’s fractured Left

Yair Golan, chairman of The Democrats party, with party members following the announcement of the results of The Democrats party primaries ahead of the upcoming elections, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 20, 2026.

Yair Golan's Democrats list for the Knesset cements Labor's shift to the far Left - opinion


Israel Elections: Bibi bloc teeters on edge of 61 seats - final polls

A number of polls found that Netanyahu may manage to form a majority government after the upcoming elections.

Head of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu at a Likud Party election event in the Maale Adumim neighborhood of Jerusalem, October 27, 2022.

Threshold parties begin 'gevalt' campaigns as time runs out

The latest polls show PM Lapid's Yesh Atid rising and Meretz barely making it over the threshold of 3.25%.

 Zehava Galon following her victory in the Meretz leadership primary on August 23, 2022

West Bank won't be part of Israel, Labor leader Michaeli says

"It's a shame to invest in a place that at the end of the day, won't be part of Israel," said Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli.

Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli in Tel Aviv.

Grapevine October 23, 2022: A Yemenite festival

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

Yemeni Jews demonstrate outside the Cabinet office in Sanaa, March 2009

Arab parties fail to sign surplus vote-sharing agreements

Surplus vote-sharing agreements stipulate that after being allocated their number of seats in the Knesset, two parties may bring their votes together in an attempt to win one of the seats.

 COUNTING BALLOTS after the general elections, March 25, 2020.

Israel Elections: Don't be pressured into changing your vote - opinion

Forget the threshold and be a strategic and principled voter, not a tactical and cynical one. Vote your conscience, even if that might mean that your ballot goes to waste.

 A NEARLY-EMPTY Knesset plenum debates the dispersal of parliament, in June. In the upcoming election, be a strategic and principled voter, not a tactical and cynical one, says the writer.

Zehava Galon: IDF must restrain soldiers, settlers from attacking Palestinians

Israel's security establishment must act in a stronger manner against violent Jewish settlers, Galon claimed in a Shabbatarbut event.

 Police evacuate Settlers of the Nachala Settlement Movement from an open field near Kiryat Arba, after trying to establish illegal outposts in Judea and Samaria, July 20, 2022

Meretz files appeal to Supreme Court for not disqualifying Silman

Silman entered the previous Knesset as a member of Yamina, and then announced in April that she was leaving the coalition, ending its 61-member majority.

 Yamina MK Idit Silman at the Knesset, April 25, 2022.

New Meretz campaign video depicts violence by Netanyahu supporters

The video includes clips of violence inserted every few seconds, in between the words "this violence did not start now. It has been like this for two years, just like then."

 Head of the left wing Meretz party Zehava Gal-On leaving after a meeting with Labor leader and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid at Lapid's home in Tel Aviv on September 10, 2022.

Top Israeli politicians take to social media, make fun of each other

From the Galon-Shaked debate on the best name for an album cover to the Likud's use of a sinkhole as a jab at political opponents, fun was had by all.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R)